Uganda Wildlife Authority Takes Over Bugoma Central Forest Reserve
Uganda Wildlife Authority Takes Over Bugoma Central Forest Reserve: Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has officially taken over the responsibility for the protection and management of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve. The handover ceremony, held at the Kikuube District Headquarters, was led by the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja.
This handover followed a directive from His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni aimed at enhancing the protection of Bugoma Forest, stopping ongoing degradation and encroachment, and ensuring the sustainable conservation of its ecosystem. During the ceremony, the Prime Minister stated that the government could no longer tolerate the continued destruction of one of Uganda’s vital natural ecosystems. She emphasized government’s commitment to preserving the country’s environmental heritage and protecting Bugoma Forest for both current and future generations.
“The government could not continue to watch the endless degradation of Bugoma Forest. This handover reflects our commitment to safeguarding Uganda’s natural heritage and ensuring the ecosystem is preserved for generations to come,” she said. The Prime Minister expressed full confidence in the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s ability to protect and manage the forest sustainably and instructed the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities to accelerate efforts to upgrade Bugoma Forest to National Park status. She also called for the eviction of all encroachers from the forest without compensation, in line with the Presidential directive aimed at restoring and preserving the forest’s integrity.
The Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Col. Tom Butime, described the handover as a significant milestone in strengthening conservation and environmental protection in Uganda. “Today’s event marks a major step forward in protecting Bugoma Forest, following the President’s directives to safeguard this vital ecosystem and stop ongoing degradation and encroachment,” he said. The Minister further assured the government and public that UWA possesses the institutional capacity and expertise necessary to effectively protect and manage Bugoma Forest.
By 2021, Global Forest Watch data showed Bugoma had lost 17 percent of its cover between 2001 and 2020, roughly 7,355 hectares. Then things got worse. By 2025, the total loss had reached 7,808 hectares. This year alone, another 4,084 hectares have been stripped. “It is painful to see Bugoma being cut down by very powerful people in government,” said Silverious Tumusime, Kikuube’s secretary for production, last June. “We know how dangerous it is to lose these forests. We have seen landslides in Kasese and Bududa.”
The forest regulates rainfall across western Uganda. Its canopy holds the soil in place. The Kabalega Hydroelectric Power Dam on the River Wambabya, which generates 9 megawatts for local communities, is reportedly silting up because, without forest upstream to anchor the soil, the river carries mud instead of clean water.
For chimpanzees, the situation has become desperate. As the trees disappear, animals are hemmed into smaller and smaller patches, cut off from each other, unable to find enough food or mates. They venture onto farms. Farmers protecting their crops kill them.
Tourism Minister Tom Butime, who first raised the alarm with the President in October 2025, described the handover as a milestone and was equally blunt: all encroachers and illegal operators must leave the reserve now. Prime Minister Nabbanja added that she expected the ministry to begin the process of upgrading Bugoma to National Park status a legal reclassification that would bring far stronger protections and, potentially, significant tourism revenue.
The Degradation of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve
The smell of burning charcoal hits you before the sight does. Charcoal smoke hanging in the air where the tree canopy used to be. Then the stumps come into view, hundreds of them, some freshly cut, their pale wood still bright against the red earth. This is Bugoma, or what remains of it. One of Uganda’s oldest and most extraordinary forests is slowly being devoured. In 2026 alone, more than 4,000 hectares have already been cleared
Bugoma is not just a forest. It sits in the Albertine Rift Valley, the Geological seam running along Uganda’s western edge, the same landscape that holds Lake Albert and some of the most biologically rich terrain in Africa. It was Gazetted in 1932, the reserve stretches across 41,144 hectares of lowland tropical forest and connects Murchison Falls National Park to the north with the Semliki Reserve to the south.
Why Is Bugoma Central Forest Reserve Protected?
The wildlife inside is staggering. Over 500 tree species, more than 200 bird species, including the Grey Parrot and African crowned eagle, Elephants, Buffaloes, Uganda Kobs, and multiple species of monkey. The forest’s two rivers, the Nkuse and Rutoha, flow into Lake Albert and supply water to communities across the region.
The animal that defines Bugoma more than any other, though, is the chimpanzee. A 2010 survey by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and WWF counted around 580 individuals in the reserve. Together with Budongo Forest to the north, the broader landscape holds an estimated 1,157 chimpanzees.
Last year, Bugoma became Uganda’s newest chimpanzee trekking destination, with 140 habituated individuals divided between a tourism troop and a research troop.
Then there is the Ugandan mangabey, Lophocebus ugandae, a primate found nowhere else on earth. It has disappeared from every other forest in the region. Bugoma is the last place it exists. For the mangabey, this forest is not just an important habitat. It is the whole world.
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